Dracula's America-Panic in the Streets

 

Last Sunday my friend Luis put on a game of Dracula's America at the Abyss for myself, Christian and Graham. I had heard about this game and despite my reluctance to get into yet another genre it seems pretty cool so I thought why not. It seems a combined publication of Osprey and Studio Tomahawk. I am a little unsure what the Studio Tomahawk contribution is but it is on their website as one of their universes. 

The game is set in the United States just after the civil war, but in an alternate universe. In this universe, Dracula has assassinated Abraham Lincoln and is now President of the USA. Most of the scenarios are set in the south where alternating forces of good and evil are vying for power. Northstar Games has miniatures for the game but substitutions are pretty easy to make. Each faction requires 6-10 miniatures and there is a campaign system where the characters can grow in abilities. There is a strong supernatural aspect to the game and I believe we played a game from the Forbidden Powers source book.

This is one of the two supplements to the main rulebooks which adds 2 more factions which have a definite Lovecraftian twist. Luis set up the Panic in the Streets scenario from the supplement. Myself and Christian played what I believe were the evil factions while Graham and Luis played the good factions. There were a lot of spells, some of Lovecraftian origin and others from Voodoo tradition. This supplement sets games in the bayous of the Deep South which was cool.

I have to say that there were a lot of moving pieces in this game, and at times it was a little confusing but Luis moved the game along well. I had watched several videos before the game which did help me but I believe the supplement had a lot of changes and additions. Anyway I had a lot of fun and Luis put together a great terrain as you will see. I got a lot of the basic mechanics down and did cast some spells. The initiative is driven by a card draw so there was quite a lot of back and forth with multiple NPC's arriving on the table. The game has similarities to both Pulp Alley and Congo, but might be a little less streamlined. Not withstanding, I had a great time. Some photos will follow, but I would not be able to put together a linear report on the action.

What a terrific table!

Luis's faction I believe.

Here are my troops

I got to say this game is a lot of fun and I think myself and Christian eked out a victory as we were pretty good at killing the high value NPCs. Certainly, a game I would play again. In fact, I have already ordered some figures to put together a faction but more about that later. I probably would like to play a non-weird version (you can do this without all the supernatural bits) next to get a better sense of the mechanics.

Thanks to Luis for putting together a great looking game and teaching us the rules.

If you are looking for an excellent review of the mechanics as well a general review this post does an excellent job.